Students in the 2014-2015 Young Entrepreneurs AcademyPhoto: Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce

DEARBORN – Before he’d cast a ballot in a national election or graduated from high school, Ahmed Beydoun became the CEO of his own company at 17.

Beydoun secured the title when he was a senior at Fordson High School and a student in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy.

During the 30-week educational program, operated by the Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce, Beydoun developed his graphic design and printing business, BigTime Graphics.

“All the things you would need to know about starting a business they really showed you,” Beydoun said of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy. “That’s how I got to where I was.”

The program gave Beydoun and his 12 classmates guidance to create businesses or social movements. Results of their efforts ranged from an app that serves as a personal stylist to a website with resources for young mothers.

“That’s the difference between us and other kinds of programs — we’re actually starting real businesses and allowing real entrepreneurs to do that,” said Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce spokesman Ronald Hinrichs.

The academy, which is open to Metro Detroit students in grades 7-12, will begin a new session in November. The chamber hopes to accept 24 students into the new class, Hinrichs said.

Financing, taxes, and employee management are among the topics in the program’s curriculum. Students also learn how to register with the Wayne County Clerk’s office, sign up for an employer identification number and complete other basic business practices.

Beydoun said starting and operating a company would have been difficult without step-by-step instructions.

“I didn’t even know what a business plan was before I came to the program,” Beydoun admitted.  

But he knew what interested him.

As a kid, Beydoun worked alongside his uncle, who owned a graphic design and printing business. Even after his uncle moved away, Beydoun continued to dabble in the art.

So when charged with creating a unique business model, Beydoun drew on that interest.

He aimed to streamline the graphic design and printing process by making it possible for customers to place orders and make other requests over the phone. By cutting out in-person interactions, Beydoun said it is cheaper and more efficient for small businesses.

The idea earned Beydoun an investment of more than $1,000 from local business leaders at the academy’s annual event last spring, during which the students present their business plans to a panel of investors.

For securing a larger investment than the other students, Beydoun was given the chance to pitch his business at the Young Entrepreneurs Academy Saunders Regional Competition in Rochester, New York.

Beydoun and his classmates are among 8,000 students in 38 states across the country who are part of the entrepreneurial class, said Jackie Lovejoy, president of the Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce.

Beydoun, now 18, is a freshman mechanical engineering student at the University of Michigan- Dearborn.

He said his major combines design, colors and other concepts that interest him. He creates t-shirts, business cards and other products for clients in his free time and said he will manage his business throughout his college career.

“Instead of working minimum wage here or there, I have this business. It’s much better in my opinion,” Beydoun said. “I’ve been able to make a nice profit so far.”